If you find yourself forgetting where you parked the car, or where you put the keys, then a small Mindfulness practice might help! Mindfulness is not connected with any religious group or movement, it is identified with personal development and the quest for self-knowledge. September 12th has been designated the day to discuss and to share ways of being mindful; with the idea that we learn about it and make it a part of our regular routine. Mindfulness is a practice, it is a technique, and it is a way of life. Most of the time we are so busy ‘doing’ that we don’t notice ourselves. Our bodies carry us from one task to the next, and our minds are a whirling pool of activity. We are planning the next move; remembering what happened last time, and wondering what will happen next time. There might be ongoing thoughts about how we look and how we sound and whether anyone noticed some particular thing. We might be planning what to say to someone the next time we see them, or what we will Tweet the next chance we get. We might have shopping lists and bill-payments vying for our attention and meal planning for this evening and phone messages to return. Our minds are so cluttered that it is difficult to feel still and quiet even when we sit down and ‘take a break.’ Each thought asserts its superior importance. Our attention dances among the dozens of them alongside incoming information and images that surround us, words and pictures pass by on buses, they float in the side bars of our computer screens, they dance musically out of radios and televisions. Mindfulness is about paying attention. Dennis Lewis says "Attention is one of the great miracles of living. The riches we receive when we pay attention far exceed any effort made." James Baraz wrote: "Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).” Mindfulness means making a connection with This Moment, and being entirely present in What Is, Now. This means noticing whatever sights and sounds are present. It means paying attention to smells and sensations. It means releasing the mental chatter of shopping lists and judgments. It moves attention away from the internal commentary which distracts us from the reality of the moment. With Mindfulness, attention is taken away from revisiting what is past or fantasizing about the future. When you bring your full attention into the present moment, then that moment is experienced with all the depth and texture it contains and joy follows. "Joy and happiness are possible right here and right now if you know the practice of mindfulness and concentration" wrote Thich Nhat Hanh. In a mindful moment we notice our body through the physical senses. We feel the chair underneath us. We hear the hum of the computer tower beside us. We smell the coffee in the machine across the room. We may even remember where we put the car keys. Connecting with the physical senses, and being present to sound and touch and taste and smell reminds us that the part of us that observes is separate from the part that experiences. In this way mindfulness is a way to be attentive to the truth that we are Spiritual beings living in the physical form, and that This Moment is a place of perfect calm and joy.

Journey Into Alignment

Jo Leath

Wakefield, Quebec. Canada

Jo Leath has been practising Numerology since the early 1980s and since then has studied synchronicity and various ways of accessing Cosmic Wisdom.
In 2008 she added Labyrinths to her practice, and has become a Certified Labyrinth Facilitator with Veriditas: Worldwide Labyrinth Project.